No-one likes general adverts, and ours hadn't been updated for ages, so we're having a clear-out and a change round to make the new ones useful to you. These new adverts bring in a small amount to help pay for the board and keep it free for you to use, so please do use them whenever you can, Let our links help you find great books on glass or a new piece for your collection. Thank you for supporting the Board.

Author
Topic: Prunts (Read 8518 times)

Greetings from New York, where the New York International Gift Show is almost over and the hard work of packing for shipping two hundred and fifty pieces of glass in about four hours will soon begin! (The worst bit).

The icing bag analogy is a little off the mark, but not as much as you might think.....because in the case of the original photo shown, the star shape is created before the prunt is added. There are many similarities between confectionary techniques and glass making techniques.

To create this form of prunt, you take a gather and press it in to an open (dip) mould, that looks a bit like a jelly mould. Sometimes called an optic mould. this is a multi purpose former that can be used in paperweight making to create the profile of a star or flower in cane making.

So having created a hot lump of glass with a ribbed effect, this is brought to the gaffer, who touches the body of the vessel with the hot bit and shears a piece off. The process is repeated as necessary. Reheating melts the shear mark away.

Another use for a dip mould such as this is to create the twisted stems that can be seen in one of Leni's previous posts.... sherry (?) glasses.

Logged

Hello & Welcome to the Board! Sometimes my replies are short & succinct, other times lengthy. Apologies in advance if they are not to your satisfaction; my main concern is to be accurate for posterity & to share my limited knowledgeFor information on exhibitions & events and to see images of my new work join my Facebook grouphttps://www.facebook.com/adamaaronsonglassIntroduction to Glassblowing course:a great way to spend an afternoon http://www.zestgallery.com/glass.

I know I am repeating myself here, but it is just possible that new members may run away with the idea that three part or four part (or two) is a fashion decision. "part" is the same as "section".

It is an entirely practical matter. If a vase, for example, won't come out of a two part mould without having lumps torn off it then a three part would be used. Ditto three to four part.

The only exception which occurs to me is that some (old) mould shops might not have machine tools capable of coping with the odd angles in a three part mould. They would then have to step straight from two to four parts. I don't know of any actual examples of this, however.

Fundamentally, the smaller number of parts which it is possible to use the less the cost.

Although this has nothing specifically to do with prunts, it has everything to do with moulds (which we have been discussing). I don't know if any of you have ever looked through my extensive feature on Rindskopf (it's on my website - click Rindskopf Revealed to see the main menu for the feature)....however, on one of the pages I have shown some original mould drawings from the Rindskopf factory. They are fascinating and informative to study.

PS Adam D if you happen to look at these drawings....is that jug with the handle (bottom set of drawings) similar to the "innovative" concept you were describing that Pyrex did, in your fantastic thread on Press Moulds?

Glen - First, to clear up one thing. When I showed the two "Pyrex" jugs I wasn't suggesting that the second was innovative or some sort of big break-through. The method has been used before. I was simply giving it as an example of a very sensible way of getting rid of a two part mould and replacing it with a solid mould - desirable for all sorts of reasons.

Now back to your pictures. The lower ones show a two part press mould. It is a very good illustration of a press mould, showing the very strong hinge and locking knuckles which are essential. The jug handle, although being pressed in the way I showed, looks as though it is intended later to be bent down and attached at the bottom. I suspect there is a bit of artistic licence in the length of handle.

The upper pictures clearly show a blow mould as it is intended to be held shut by hand or by a simple latch with no real strength and, of course, the jug shown could not be pressed in the shape shown. I am, however, totally baffled by the jug handle which would be impossible to do in a blow mould. Are the two sets of pictures supposed to tell a story (bottom first) of some sort of press and blow process? If so they remind me of the sort of fanciful things which often appear in patent specifications although these are clearly not patent drawings.

I am about to go away for five or six days so any follow-up will not get a reply until then.

Adam - thanks for your reply. I'm afraid I can't cast much light on what the mould drawings were for, other than they were found by Professor Ridley (who is a descendant of the Rindskopf family) in amongst the family's photos etc of the Rindskopf factory circa the 1920s - 1930s. I copied them exactly as they were given to me and that's all I can say. There is no more information at all - but I thought you all might be interested to see them.

It's still called a prunt when applied to an item's base.The prunts covered the pontil, & are typically signs of Stourbridge origin-& supposedly higher quality pieces, such as Stevens & Williams 'Matsu-no-ke'.Is this your piece, Leni? If so, I'm terribly envious!The prunts were made using a spring-loaded tool (patented by Northwood, c.1870s) that pressed a blob of glass into a flower shape,etc. This was the same method for making applied flowers for 'Matsu-no-ke' & other fancy applied work pieces.See Hajdamach's "British Glass 1800-1914" for info on patents for these decorations & their related specialised tools.Gulliver's "Victorian Decorative Glass" also has many close-up images of different prunts on items by makers such as S&W & Thomas Webb & sons.Prunts are a very old glass decoration, especially favoured by German & Northern European glass-makers.There were drinking glasses studded all over with spiky prunts that apparently gave the drinker a better grip upon their glass, especially when tipsy &/or greasy-handed from eating without cutlery! :lol:

Logged

Marinka.More glass than class!

Support the Glass Message Board by finding glass through glass-seek.com

Thanks for that Leni! Beautiful vases! They are very difficult to obtain without damage.The strawberry one is special,I've never seen one of those for sale. I have 2 vases & a basket with cherries & quite a few others with acanthus leaves, oak leaves & acorns, & various types of flowers.Some are damaged, but I can overlook it on these wonderful old pieces.None of mine have prunts over the pontil. They all have either polished or rough pontil scars.The acathus vase is an example of a range called "Autumnal Ware", & it is by S&W.

Logged

Marinka.More glass than class!

Support the Glass Message Board by finding glass through glass-seek.com